Posted by Joshua on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is edging closer to calling for an end to the long rule of the Assad family in Syria. Obama administration officials say the first step would be to declare for the first time that President Bashar Assad has forfeited his legitimacy to rule. That would be a shift from U.S. statements demanding that Assad stop a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters. Those stopped short of saying he had to go.

Assad retains considerable international support, and it is not clear how much backing the U.S. would have in suggesting regime change. It is also unclear how far the U.S. would be willing to back up its words with action.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive internal planning

Erdoghan warned that Syria was about to enter the “Halabja and Hama” phase.

Addendum: Mitch writes:

I spent 3 hours reading Western Journalists on what is going on in Syria, and this is what I found:

“But she added that claims by the Syrian authorities that armed groups are responsible for some of the deaths were not unfounded. She said cars full of unidentified men routinely open fire on civilians and security forces alike.” (Blanford)

“He said Assad still had a chance to make amends” (Bradley Klapper)

“Damascus, the capital, seemingly tranquil, and Aleppo, a key conservative bastion, has been relatively quiet.”(Anthony Shadid)

“In the village of Hala outside Deraa, Muslim inhabitants told their Christian neighbours to join the demonstrations against the regime – or leave.” (Robert Fisk)

It is quite clear, by my selective quoting, that my original position is correct. The Syrian regime is completely correct in all its actions.

Can I be a major journalist yet?

Isn’t that what Shadid did? Makhluf was talking about the armed insurgents the West ignores. Shadid was talking about his beloved peaceful protestors. So he took Makhluf’s words against the real Islamic threat and made it sound like they were against everyone.

And Prof. Landis bought this theory.

Or am I to believe the Hizb Ul-Tahrir supporters in northern Jordan want a pro-democracy Syria. Or the Hizb Ul-Tahrir supporters in northern Lebanon (than Blanford or Shadid fail to mention who they are) are pro-democracy.

Homsi writes:

i would like to clarify something about Homs as its in the news all the times now days as a second Deraa , i dont know what was happining in Daraa but it was obvouse that Daraa was an angry city in general

Homs is much bigger than Daraa as you know and its much much diverced for some one reading the news (even state TV) woud think that the city is boilgn just like Daraa ,that is not true

The demonstrations took place in the conservative parts of the city, the places that you would not walk with your sister or any other female that is not wearing hijab without feeling that you are making something wrong, those places are meanly a tribal areas who settled in this part of the city with the exeption to BAB el sbaa (near where i live)

The vast majority of Homs is against ‘the revolution’ but the problem is that areas like al-jhaldia and bayada alone are 100 000 people and they are all from two or three tribes, meaning that in on funeral you will find 5000 people minimum

We are so glad that the army is in the city (i cant call my family however i feel better because i know the army and the security force are in the area)

Homs the main city is very calm (with the exeption of bab el sbaa) but if you ask any one they will tell you that the people in bab el sbaa who caused troubles came from outside and no one knows them). Thank you all

Observer writes:

Either Bashar or chaos. The same talk came from Ghadafi when he stated that the stability of Israel and the region passes through him. He also added that he is a bulwark against illegal immigration to Europe as well.

I posted before that the regime needs to be uprooted from its deepest root unless it seriously and rapidly institutes real and meaningful reforms.

Those on this blog that troll for the regime’s point are all doom and gloom.

I see that the Checks and the Slovaks parted ways in 93 and nothing happened and that Yougoslavia broke up and even though it was very bloody due to the folly and criminality of Milosevic life seems to go on and many of these countries will continue to learn to live in peace over time. I also see that South Sudan achieved independence and Bangladesh separated from Pakistan and none is the worse for it in the long run.

I do wish that the various sects and ethnic groups opt for independence and freedom; after all the situation in which the Alawites find themselves is a major dilemma for them and the rest. They are now put in the stark choice of either supporting the Mafia in control or risk losing everything in a civil war. In reality they should separate and declare their independence after all France tried that route before and sowed the seed of discord a long time age with the various sects and minorities.

Staying together in a shot gun forced marriage will destroy the children surely and the grand children as well as we have seen in Lebanon and Iraq. Break it up peacefully before it breaks up violently.

Any further moves by the US on Syria will probably increase the chances of an actual civil war instead of helping the opposition. The regime forces will not simply resign and ask for mercy as soon as the US declares Bashar as being illegitimate. Libya is ruined in part because of careless western policies added to the brutality of the regime and the abundance of oil in Libya. Syria does not have oil but it is a significant prize politically as long as Israel and Iran remain at odds and as long as there is no peace in the middle east.

I am confident that our president,Obama,is fully able to make life harder for the regime and ordinary citizens alike,however,the best course now is staying out of this internal strife while refusing to reward the regime.

Security Council urged to speak out on Syria
10 May 2011, The Star

New York: Western nations have launched a new bid to get the UN Security Council to condemn Syria for its deadly crackdown on opposition demonstrators, diplomats say.

Syria’s refusal to let a UN humanitarian assessment team into the protest city of Dara’a was raised by Britain at a Security Council meeting yesterday.

Britain is leading lobbying for a Security Council resolution warning Syria over its crackdown, diplomats say.

In parallel, Western nations are stepping up a campaign to stop Syria getting a seat on the UN Human Rights Council at a vote next week.

But efforts to pressure Syria are being held back by opposition from Russia, China and other countries on the 15-nation Security Council, who say the French-British-US coalition staging air attacks in Libya has gone beyond its UN mandate.

Syria again angered its critics by refusing to let a UN humanitarian team into Dara’a on Sunday. Hundreds are feared to have died in the city, which has become a symbol of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

The UN announced on Thursday that Syria had agreed to let a UN team into Dara’a, after UN Sscretary general Ban Ki-moon appealed directly to Assad.

According to human rights groups, more than 600 people have been killed and 8 000 have been jailed or disappeared across Syria in eight weeks of protests. – Sapa-AFP

Fadi Writes:

The Syrian tv just aired interviews with people in the souks around daraa. They said the army was giving them bread and foodstuff and that water was never cut off but electricity was cut for 3 days. They said that telecommunications is still disrupted in many areas. In general people were not angry or bitter. Some women were happy saying that the demonstrations started rightly for peaceful demands in the begining but then some armed groups took control of the city and people were afraid to go out at night. All seemed believable. The question remains: why not the media in and the UN commission go in earlier today?

Among those crossing the river on Monday was a young schoolteacher who in recent weeks has emerged as the leader of the protest movement in the mainly Sunni-populated town, which lies just two miles north of the border.

He and other residents struck mixed tones of fear and defiance as the Syrian authorities continued a punishing nationwide campaign of arrests and shootings against key centers of unrest to suppress a two-month uprising that threatens to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria 101: 4 attributes of Assad’s authoritarian regime

Calling himself Nisr min Tel Kalakh (the Eagle of Tel Kalakh), the young opposition leader, who could not be named for security reasons, says that he hopes the uprising remains peaceful. But he predicts that the intensifying crackdown by the Syrian security forces will plunge the country into an armed civil war.

“We are all expecting for Syria exactly what happened in Libya – a revolution against the regime, an armed struggle against the regime. It will happen soon,” he says, in perhaps the first interview of an underground opposition leader based inside Syria with a Western reporter. Until then, he adds, the protesters are willing to die for their cause.

“We will defend ourselves by baring our chests to their bullets and fighting with our bare hands. Our cause is righteous. Even if we lose 2 or 3 million people, we are willing to put up with that high price to get what we want,” he says.

Escape route

Dozens of residents of Tel Kalakh have used the narrow causeway in the past two weeks to enter Lebanon, where they have sought shelter with relatives and friends. Some spend just the day in Lebanon before making the short journey back to their homes in the evening. One resident telephoned “Nisr,” the young leader, inside Tel Kalakh and he agreed to meet for an interview. Thirty minutes later, he appeared on the opposite bank of the Kabir River.

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After discreetly slipping some money into the hands of two unarmed but uniformed Syrian border soldiers on watch at the crossing, he scrambled down the steep bank and stepped gingerly across the causeway spanning the river to the Lebanese side.

A man standing on the Lebanese bank of the river hailed the two Syrian soldiers and jeered, “Why don’t you come over here and we’ll take your picture.”
One of the Syrian soldiers yelled curses before the pair disappeared from view.

Minutes later, sitting in a dusty armchair in a nearby garage and surrounded by local well-wishers, “Nisr” said he was the first to rally people in Tel Kalakh for antiregime protests and since then had become the leader of the opposition in the town.

“The EU has decided to impose restrictive measures against Syria and persons responsible
for the violent repression against the civilian population in Syria.
These measures include an embargo on arms and equipment that may be used for internal
repression, as well as an asset freeze and a travel ban targeting a list of thirteen individuals.

JORDAN TO BE PART OF GCC, AL JAZEERA SAYS
2011-05-10

Shadid just spoke about his trip to Syria on “Here and Now” on NPR this afternoon. He says that the goal of his trip was to interview Makhlouf and that he had spent a lot of time trying to make it happen; when he was there, he was told Shaaban could talk to him too.

(Reuters) –

A stalemate on the battlefields of Libya and a political deadlock on the U.N. Security Council have left Western powers with a stark choice — covertly aid the rebels or leave them in the lurch.

Analysts and U.N. diplomats warn that if the United States, Britain, France or their allies were to exploit loopholes in, or secretly circumvent, a sanctions regime they themselves engineered in February and March, it could prompt Russia or China to adopt a similar stance on the sanctions against Iran.

Russia and China, both veto-wielding permanent members of the 15-nation Security Council, have become increasingly critical of the NATO-led operation to protect civilians in OPEC-member Libya, which they have suggested appears to be killing more civilians than it is intended to protect.

The Security Council’s Libya sanctions committee could move to exempt the rebels from measures intended to punish Gaddafi’s government, but one envoy said the “political atmospherics have changed.” Russia and China, which reluctantly abstained on a vote to approve military action, have run out of patience and are unlikely to support any adjustments of the sanctions.

“The problem for the West is that several key players on the council now feel that the authority they granted was abused and they’re not inclined to help the West extricate itself,” said David Bosco of American University in Washington.

U.N. diplomats told Reuters that Russia and China, which complain that NATO is going beyond its U.N. mandate to protect civilians and really wants “regime change” and Gaddafi’s ouster, have made clear that they would block any attempt to aid the rebels by exempting them from the U.N. sanctions.

Asked what options the Western powers and their allies have to help the rebels, a council diplomat said on condition of anonymity: “Covert aid. That’s really our only option now. Or hope that a political solution to the impasse emerges that will lead to Gaddafi’s departure. That would change everything.”

Comments (183)

Abughassansaid:

Any further moves by the US on Syria will probably increase the chances of an actual civil war instead of helping the opposition. The regime forces will not simply resign and ask for mercy as soon as the US declares Bashar as being illegitimate. Libya is ruined in part because of careless western policies added to the brutality of the regime and the abundance of oil in Libya. Syria does not have oil but it is a significant prize politically as long as Israel and Iran remain at odds and as long as there is no peace in the middle east.
I am confident that our president,Obama,is fully able to make life harder for the regime and ordinary citizens alike,however,the best course now is staying out of this internal strife while refusing to reward the regime.

This is a display of real arrogance; not the stupid comments by Rami Makhlouf; when a state believes that it can bestow legitimacy upon foreign leaders and take it away at its own whim. The only people that have the right legitimize or delegitimize a country’s leader are the people of that country, not the US president, who should instead be made to answer for the savage, barbaric war crimes committed by his own army against other peoples.

Apparently we missed the event where Obama descended upon us from the heavens to enforce God’s mandate on everyone. In any case, as I have always said, strength is the deciding factor in affirming or denying national rights.

The legitimacy of the regime come from the people inside Syria, the syrian has said loud and clear the regime is illigitamate,has no legitimacy any more, the regime in sending troops , killing his own people,this is crimes by the regime,the regime is arrogant, UN has the right in saying the regime lost his legitimacy,in this day and time dictators has no right to force himself on the people,and kill and arrest many,the world must listen to the cries of the people saying ,we want to down the regime.
If civil war to erupt in Syria, it is the fault of the regime.

Nour,
Actually ‘God’s of the world’ arrogant statement today will boost the president’s chance of getting more support by many of the silent Syrians, it’ll be as close as declaring war on Syria.
How could they consider any King/Ameer/sheikh of this mad world as legitimate when nobody elect any of those at all!
Seriously, who they think they are to give such statements? they remind me of the stories we study about the middle ages when the European church used to give heaven’s keys to those who pay it more!

This is really idiotic. The US barely has any relations with Syria. Their ambassador just arrived here few months ago. We have trivial trade with them. We don’t agree with them on any political issue. They were our enemies until the USSR collapsed. Most Syrians still perceive the US as an enemy.

What will it change if Obama calls on Assad to leave? The US already had the intention to depose Assad in 2003 when they invaded Iraq. The US is an old enemy of Syria. Obama’s call on Assad to leave will prove this fact and will make Assad more popular among his supporters (majority of Syrians). Assad is not Mubarak. Assad never drew his legitimacy from the US so that they can withdraw it from him now.

It was Obama who wanted to engage Syria after years of no relations. The US engaged Syria because they needed to do so.

As for the civil warrior from Tell Kalakh. The Syrian government has crippled you before you could even control a single village. Aside from the media BS, the insurgents were trying to create a Libyan scenario in Syria from the first week. They utterly failed. This talk about the opposition ‘taking up arms’ is a joke. They had arms from the first day and they could not do anything. Most of them are now in jails.

This revolution has failed. There is nothing the US can do to change this fact. If they boycott Syria, they will be isolating themselves in the region.

Another of ‘unclear’, ‘not clear’ US pressure on Syria carried by western press

“Assad retains considerable international support, and it is not clear how much backing the U.S. would have in suggesting regime change. It is also unclear how far the U.S. would be willing to back up its words with action.”

I guess Bashar Al Assad has still an easy way out, already expressed by Ambassador Ford: Stop the crackdown AND stop supporting Hezbollah.
I am sure Ford is still in Damascus because he is trying to convince/threaten Bashar al Assad to accept the US conditions: Dump Iran, Dump Hezbollah, make peace with Israel and we will save you!

‘taking up arms’
They already have arms, even Haytham Manna today in an article on Aljazeera admit that some element of the uprising already have and use arms and this is one of two reasons of the uprising failure the other one is the sectarian language.

Why Discuss is offering the regime’s line hook and sinker. Either Bashar or chaos. The same talk came from Ghadafi when he stated that the stability of Israel and the region passes through him. He also added that he is a bulwark against illegal immigration to Europe as well.
I posted before that the regime needs to be uprooted from its deepest root unless it seriously and rapidly institutes real and meaningful reforms.
Those on this blog that troll for the regime’s point are all doom and gloom.
I see that the Checks and the Slovaks parted ways in 93 and nothing happened and that Yougoslavia broke up and even though it was very bloody due to the folly and criminality of Milosevic life seems to go on and many of these countries will continue to learn to live in peace over time. I also see that South Sudan achieved independence and Bangladesh separated from Pakistan and none is the worse for it in the long run.

I do wish that the various sects and ethnic groups opt for independence and freedom; after all the situation in which the Alawites find themselves is a major dilemma for them and the rest. They are now put in the stark choice of either supporting the Mafia in control or risk losing everything in a civil war. In reality they should separate and declare their independence after all France tried that route before and sowed the seed of discord a long time age with the various sects and minorities.

Staying together in a shot gun forced marriage will destroy the children surely and the grand children as well as we have seen in Lebanon and Iraq. Break it up peacefully before it breaks up violently.

Assad must figure out if this threat is serious or not. If it is serious, Assad must attack preemptively and kick out the US ambassador from Damascus and announce that the US is involved in the insurgency. The best defense is to attack first.

When analyzing any diplomatic statement you have to read between the lines.

What the statements about a US shift in policy really mean is that Washington has come to the realization that the regime of Bashar Assad has little hope of surviving. Why else would they mak such a statement? This realization was certainly made after consulting American allies in the region (Turkey, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia).

Many commentators in this blog just 12 weeks ago were arguing that the US power is in decline and that it’s policies had little impact in the Middle East. The role the US plays in the coming months should dispel such premature annuncements. If anything the US is as powerful as ever in Arab world – in particular Syria. So far it has only imosed limited unilateral sanctions on Damascus. But with its new shift in policy it will expend soft power to prod the Europeans to impose a multi-lateral sanctions mechanism to guide the events on the ground. The Turks and Cypriots (both signatories of EU human rights conventions) will quickly follow. Before long the growing economic pain will cause the House of Assad to collapse like a deck of cards –regardless of its recent declarations of victory.

The only hope of survival of Assad clan is to come to its senses and starting effectively governing. It should forthwith make overtures to the US about its change in foreign policy and its allegiance with Hezb & Iran. Maybe this will appease Washington. But after the recent statements of Rami Maklouf it does not appear this is in the cards.

You are preaching the dismembering of Syria, yougoslavian style, with the creation of religion-based small and powerless entities! This is exactly what your friend/master Israel wants in order to justify their ‘jewish’ entity existence, I think you should stop observing , just move there if you are not already there and leave Syria as it is, with its united, proud and extraordinary people.
I and all Syrians would rather have a dictator than a Syria cut in pieces.

WD
Observer was talking about this strategy from day one, nothing new, his only answer to this conflict is to split Syria into 5 parts, and he is consistence on repeating the same solution without telling us the price.
However, with all due respect, I disagree with you about labeling him, he is defiantly as Syrian as all of us and he sounds very smart, although I strongly disagree with his views.

“……..I am sure Ford is still in Damascus because he is trying to convince/threaten Bashar al Assad to accept the US conditions: Dump Iran, Dump Hezbollah, make peace with Israel and we will save you!…..”

It is this flawed U.S. Policy on Syria that made the U.S. an outcast among Syrians. The U.S. cannot save itself from own rebellious people soon, let alone saving Assad from his own. President Assad better off not listen to outsiders that will not be able to guarantee his rule or safety, he needs not to heeds their ill advise and better to keep the reforms in Syria going so that his rule is secure by the love and appreciation of the Syrian masses.

Leave this, drop that and force this and that, it still ring in my ear the words of former U.S. Secretary of State Powell cutting Bashar off when he attempted to explain about his inability to do what America is demanding from Syria, Powell said loudly “ What do you care about them (Syrians), you are a dictator, force them to accept it”

Syrians and Syria have much to lose if it is to implement all the Western/Israeli demands incessantly made on it. Once those demands are met, Syria is dumped and Syrians will be left to rot, especially all those recently arrested. What interest, if any will Syria offer afterward. Hezbollah has been very critical of the Syrian Government and so as Iran. Iranian officials made repeated demands at Assad to reform and listen to own people. They have nothing to lose; they are both financially and militarily capable entities. It is naive to think that Iran will be hurt in any way or shape no matter how small the loss is ,should Syria agrees to kiss Obama butt. And that is true regarding Hezbollah, which probably will even benefit from this Syria distance, in that, it no longer will be exposing its armaments and its whereabouts to the multitude of Syrian operatives reporting to Mossad on those details. It will find direct secure logistics, or starts producing own in Lebanon.

Wishy-Washy and wishful thinking aside, President Assad needs to start reforming Syria and forget about those with ill intentioned advice and self serving demands. In couple of years the situation will be unbearable to the Syrian multitude and no American or European, neither Arabism will suffice, they will all themselves be in serious turmoil, drowning.

I don’t understand your logic at all. You end up by saying that Syria will be drowing in turmoil even after Bashar makes reforms.

“In couple of years the situation will be unbearable to the Syrian multitude and no American or European, neither Arabism will suffice, they will all themselves be in serious turmoil, drowning”

But you also say before that: “Syrians and Syria have much to lose if it is to implement all the Western/Israeli demands incessantly made on it.”

Since Syria and the Syrians are lost anyway, why do you exclude the choice of Bashar al Assad to yield to the US demands and save the country from the chaos of a country left with no leadership, even this is for a “couple of years”

Why aren’t there any journalists from Al Jazeera, or UN human rights activists to protect these poor people who are being send back to Syria. Is it the same on all the borders: Syrians are not allowed in Lebanon anymore?

Sophia,
Do you know anything about the story that the American ambassador in Lebanon searching for spaces in monasteries to put Syrian Christians in?! What about other minorities, athiests for example, where is Mr. 😉 Ambassador planning to store?

Sophia,
Do you know anything about the story that the American ambassador in Lebanon searching for spaces in monasteries to put Syrian Christians in?! What about other minorities, athiests for example, where is Mr. Ambassador planning to store?
BTW, did you hear about the Iranian/American/Canadian/aljazeera journalist? Syrians are saying that she left the country, I suspect that they send her to Iran, any thoughts?
WD 🙂 that what I heard!

I spent 3 hours reading Western Journalists on what is going on in Syria, and this is what I found:

“But she added that claims by the Syrian authorities that armed groups are responsible for some of the deaths were not unfounded. She said cars full of unidentified men routinely open fire on civilians and security forces alike.” (Blanford)

“He said Assad still had a chance to make amends” (Bradley Klapper)

“Damascus, the capital, seemingly tranquil, and Aleppo, a key conservative bastion, has been relatively quiet.”(Anthony Shadid)

“In the village of Hala outside Deraa, Muslim inhabitants told their Christian neighbours to join the demonstrations against the regime – or leave.” (Robert Fisk)

It is quite clear, by my selective quoting, that my original position is correct. The Syrian regime is completely correct in all its actions.

Can I be a major journalist yet?

Isn’t that what Shadid did? Makhluf was talking about the armed insurgents the West ignores. Shadid was talking about his beloved peaceful protestors. So he took Makhluf’s words against the real Islamic threat and made it sound like they were against everyone.

And Prof. Landis bought this theory.

Or am I to believe the Hizb Ul-Tahrir supporters in northern Jordan want a pro-democracy Syria. Or the Hizb Ul-Tahrir supporters in northern Lebanon (than Blanford or Shadid fail to mention who they are) are pro-democracy.

The rumor has it , The Syrian regime informed and begged the US to call for regime change in Syria, so what they have been saying for weeks about a conspiracy against Syria to change it’s stand is right all along, Israel is welcomed to jump in and declare what it really wants a puppet state in Syria under the foot of Saudi Arabia, that will be a significant boost for the regime, and will make it clear that the oppositions are in the pocket of the US.

Dorothy Parvaz sent back to Iran: that’s logical since she entered Syria as an Iranian ( Iranians don’t need visa to enter Syria) maybe posing as a tourist and was detained and made persona non grata. Iran does not recognize multiple nationalities and have asked the Syrian to send her back. Al Jazeera cannot claim she’s been held in Iran, it’s her country. End of story.

America should stay out of this. The remarkably brave Syrians are doing great job. They don’t need, nor they asked for America’s help. If America really wants to be useful, then they should encourage and facilitate the future meeting of the opposition factions in Cairo.

This junta regime is over. Let the Syrians have full credit for getting rid of it.
.

No, I did not hear about the plan of the US ambassador to put Syrian Christians in Lebanese monasteries. That’s a silly plan, really, because then Lebanese christians will feel threatened because of what is happening to Syrian christains and rally around Hezbollah even more (more then 50% now are with Aoun-Hezbollah).

I did not hear about Parvaz but as Syrian authorities have admitted holding her I expect her release soon, and it is logical that they release her to Iranian authorities if she entered Syria with her Iranian passport.

So after all, the Syrian regime is smarter than it appeared to be.
Maybe the Makhlouf interview in the NYT was part of a regime media strategy to push the US administration into threatening to de-legitimize Bashar Al Assad, thus confirming it has been part of a regime change plot right from the beginning. Will the US fall into the trap?

Jr must approve and has approved every policy used in the crackdown of the Syrian uprising.

Mr Shadid’s interview with R Makhloof has given us a great insight into the decision, its making process, and its makers at the top in Syria.

First
The Decision: “ We will sit here. We call it a fight until the end.” He added later, “They should know when we suffer, we will not suffer alone.”
– No relinquishing of power, and no political reforms at any price.
– The uprising shall be quelled by whatever force it takes.

Second, the decision makers:
“We believe there is no continuity without unity,” he said. “As a person, each one of us knows we cannot continue without staying united together.”
– Jr represents the political leadership. He orchestrates efforts aimed at ameliorating the impact of violent crackdown, nationally and internationally.
– Bro. represents the military and security leadership. In conjunction, with Makhloof’s brother, he controls and commands the military and security operations against demonstrators.
– Coz, R Makhloof, assures the flow of money to support non-governmental activities, including manipulating media.

Third, the decision making process:
“Though Mr. Assad has the final say, he said, policies were formulated as “a joint decision”
– Joint decision
– Political, military and media options are brought by each one to the table.
– Jr. chooses and approves what he finds most appropriate.
– Jr. options are confined to those approved by his brother and cousin!
– Policies go into effect only if and after being approved by Jr.
– The process is considered vital to their survival as people, and the existence of their interests.

Fourth
How far is this gang willing to go to preserve their control on power?
“People will fight against them. Do you know what this means? It means catastrophe. And we have a lot of fighters.”
– They are willing to continue their crackdown “fighting” even though it might be catastrophic.
– “We have a lot fighters”. Note that he used neither the word “Army” nor “Security Forces”. This is a slip of the tongue. He was indicating his awareness of the existence of loyal paramilitary militias, most likely on his payroll.

Conclusions:
– MR. Makhloof’s statements concerning the decision making and makers shall be most valuable in future court proceedings.
– Jr is responsible, because he is the sole approver of all actions by his regime on the ground. He must approve it to go into effect.
– The clan is bracing for Qiddafi-style finale.

He said: ” Though Mr. Assad has the final say, he said, policies were formulated as “a joint decision”

– Coz does not hold any official or honorary governmental position.
– He declares that he is an essential part of the top decision making and its process in Syria.
– He has showed an authority, confidence, or both to communicate sensitive policy issues, that no other politician, including Jr. himself uttered before.
– The regime appears to be run by Asad/Mkhloof syndicate. Political insitutions and army are manipulated to serve their ends….!

Doesn’t that make sense, the more the US is against Syria, the more the regime has a chance to stay in power.so ho ray, let them do what they want , they wanted to change the regime since 2003 when Syria stood in their way to take over Iraq without a fight. all the Arabs owe Syria for it’s stand.

These Arabs who do not deserve the friendship of Syria , after what happened in Syria , Syria is going to change her relation with Qatar. Turkey and the Gulf states .

The way i look at is that the US could not beat AL Qaeda so it joined them to depose the secular states of the Arabs.

I think the US administration is in total confusion in its foreign policy. Iraq is moving closer to Iran, Egypt wants to exchange ambassadors with Iran and will open the Raffah crossing, Saudi Arabia is mad because the US let down their dearest friend Mobarak, Tunisia is in a turmoil, Libya in war, Bahrein unstable, Pakistan is turning to be the culprit. All is well.
Everything the US thought they had secured in the last 40 years are falling apart. Hilary Clinton who has been a poor foreign minister is probably loosing her hair over what to do about Syria.
So they have these rumors spread by the media just to evaluate the official reactions of the concerned countries… they often do that and adjust accordingly.
The Iranian syndrome is having its toll. Maybe someone came with the bright idea that the US should turn to the ‘moderate extremist sunni islamists’ to jugulate iranian influence in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Syria. They did that in Afghanistan to counteract communist Russia and we know how it ended up.
The USA is a great country but its foreign policy stinks.

@WD “………why do you exclude the choice of Bashar al Assad to yield to the US demands and save the country from the chaos…”

Because that is the worst option Assad can take. Once he delivers on those demands, Syria and Syrians will rots, will be totally forgotten by the entire world. Meeting those demands will only give President Assad Government cover for a short time. If President Assad not implements reforms now, and within 2 years, the real Syrian Revolution will blow up. Driven not by foreign cash, Moslem mercenaries and foreign interests that are ridings on the back of legitimate grievances but by uncontrollable outside factors and upcoming events, abject poverty of Syrian masses, unemployment, risen food prices, triple what they are today, utter hopelessness of the youth and the list is long and grueling. No Foreign power can help Assad then, no matter how hard they wanted too, so why buckle now to the trouble makers, turn this events into positive and become Syria’s great leader. If he cares about being the leader that wants future generation of Syrians to visit his monuments and admire his great deeds for the nation, or is it going to be as we seen on video of Syrians tearing down his pictures and trashing his father erected status. I think Bashar Assad needs to think about the kind of Syrian Leader he wants to leave behind as his legacy. Is it going to be the little puppet that bowed down to colonial interests and impoverished his nation, or one that stood up for Syria sovereignty and rallied his people to greatness out of the ashes?

You know, I have some videos of Syria that I personally asked some Mukhabarati in the past to make for me and post on utube. Of course, they posted for me the nice areas, the few streets that are taken care of. But now, on utube, one can see the truth, the parts of Syria that is away from the Four Season shot. It is appalling, it is horrifying, it is shameful, that a country as Syria looks like this, that the people looks like this, worse they feel so undignified and poor.

Therefore, President Assad needs to shun foreign interests now and focus all his energy on political, economic and, most importantly, social reform within Syria. Rebuild the Country, rebuild the Nation. There is a lot of work needed, a lot of institution to be built, or rebuilt, and he cannot do it alone, it is a monumental task that is of historical proportion, he must relies on the entire nation, not just his click of Baathists to make it all happen. He also needs the help of generous nations, like Islamic Republic of Iran, who had delivered to Syria everything that is asked of it.

Sophia,
This is an article that answer the sweet humanitarian American ambassador in Lebanon and her mission to check the capacity of Lebanon monasteries to accept the Syrian Christians. I’m happy for the Christian Syrians for having someone as kind as Mora looking after them :).
Seriously though, does stupidity have any limit?

I agree with you but the ‘opposition’ wants to remove Bashar Al Assad before he has the chance to make any reforms.
I am sorry, but I was in Damascus recently, it is a beautiful city, they have arranged the parks and gardens, restaured beautiful old houses, the museum. It was becoming a very pleasant city before these terrible events. I have many french friends who live in Damascus and they say it is a much better city to live in than dull Amman and crowded Cairo. Syrians are very gentle and polite people and the country has lots of history, it is fascinating
If Bashar makes the necessary reforms, money will come, don’t worry.

From the moment Maura Connelly came to Lebanon, she has been doing one stupid action after the other. Maybe she has been selected dumb enough so she can be manipulated by the ex ambassador, the odious Feltman now in Washington.

NK,
Your selection of articles today remind me of Kalila w Doumna, they referring to Syrians as animals, so if you really like to be called those names, go for it, I don’t think any Syrian would appreciate to be called an animal and they will stop listening to your message the moment you call them dogs, chickens, donkeys…..Your writers need to respect Syrian’s intelligence!

The writers are Syrians so it’s not like they’re excluding themselves from their writings, and if you think the writer in the second article called Syrians Dogs, then you probably should read it again, you obviously didn’t understand what he wrote.

Also Let’s not forget that “حيوان, قرد, كر, دابة” are the official titles of any Syrian when addressed by Amn, so it’s not like the Avg Syrian is not insulted on a daily basis, at least these writers are not delivering their insults while stepping over people’s heads with their military boots!!!.

@WD “……I agree with you but the ‘opposition’ wants to remove Bashar Al Assad before he has the chance to make any reforms…..”

What “Opposition” you mean the paid mercenaries that are lead by nameless coward puppets? That is working for Bandar, Khaddam and Hariri with MI6/Mossad/ALCIADA assistance? Did you not know that the Moslem Brotherhood of Amen was founded, and is financed by the Rothschild’s and MI6? It is leader and founder was a grand Freemasonry lodge pope. They are no different than the Order of Malta, or Zionists, lead by the same team to bring about a One World Order. Soros is prime backer of Egyptian Brotherhood of Amen.

Here is the raw deal, many are deceived now by the labels and front face news events, it is all part of the grand deception plan. This is not about freedom and human rights for Egyptians or Syrians. This is about -Greater Israel- من النيل الى الفرات, From the Nile to the Euphrates. You see, Egypt in less than a year will be totally bankrupt, no gold or hard cash left at all, it maybe even sooner than that. They will start the printing presses and live in an astronomical hyper inflationary era, at a time of astronomical commodity prices. Already Egypt, now, not affording wheat for the bakers. You do not hear in the news about the raw stories. About depleted gold, diminishing foreign reserves, and impending utter economic collapse, already in progress. Israel will come to Egypt help, it will bring the wheat and own the country, and the Brotherhood of Amen is here, at the right time to deliver Egypt. Once that happen, they are expendable and will be called terrorists should they resist. You can consider Egypt now as a vassal land of Israel, it is coming soon.

In Syria, the Moslem Brotherhood is again being used to deliver Syria, bring Israel to the Euphrates. Assad is given a choice of surrendering now to Israel and stay as a puppet ruling under their orders. Or face revolts led by the Brotherhood of Amen until Syria collapses. Once that happen, Syria will also be drained of cash and be destitute, the brotherhood will have to accept whatever offer America presents to it on behalf of Israel, just to feed the population bread.

If Assad surrender and meets the demands now, he and Syria will be doomed. The brotherhood then will deliver the Zionists its Greater dream, just like the Shia of Iraq, and most likely, the Mullah of Iran will do the same as well. Once Ahmadinejad is gone, the Mullah will buckle and obey the Masters just to stay in power like Iraq SOFA Shia.

What Assad, Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah are not aware of is that the Resistance front is really a resistance against the New World Order and the Grand Zionist plot for Greater Israel; it is far bigger stands with greater consequence to the nations of the region than simple Israel-Arab conflict as they perceive it.

The Brotherhood of Amen was founded thousands of Years ago in Egypt as a mean for Amen-Marduk to rule while he is hidden (incarcerated by the assembly of the Annunaki on the far side of the earth moon). Hundreds of years ago in Central and South America, there existed another Brotherhood of Amen that ruled as the priest’s class the Aztec and Mayan Civilizations. The main teaching concocted by the brotherhood/priesthood, the very central theological focus, is the teaching of the coming the white god savior. When the European landed, the priesthood told the king not to fight, to lay arm and bow down to worship the white god savior coming in ships. The kings did so and the entire population of the Aztec and Mayan were genocidally slaughtered, except the Brotherhoods of course. Americas delivered to the Europeans by a simple ploy. Absent this class of deceiver of Amen, the Brotherhood, the Euro invaders would have been slaughtered by the powerful armies that are outnumbered the whites by thousand to one.

There is more to the story than the crap CNN and Reuters feeds you, daily ration of deception diet. Now you know why Obama elected the Moslem Brotherhood to be the flag carrier of the Arab revolutions. Because he knows they will deliver it all to the Zionists.

It has been hard to follow from the rat’s hole. But i thought of helping the discussion by summarizing the essence of regime supporters discussion on Syria Comment. Antiregime comments were irrelevant to this summary and were not summarized because they had no impact on the direction of discussion. Really no impact….

Main Post: Joshua Writes: Bashar is a Smart Alawite (Defintion of Aalawite), he may win and he may lose,

Sophia says: the Independent, the BBC, CNN, Aljazeera, Downing Street, the White House are all scared of Bashar’s leadership, Erdogan made a mistake, he regretts it, it is the end for Erdogan
Why Discuss says: the US loves/hates bashar, he will stay, all others are crazy, they are in panic.
Jad says: hetre is a clip from Syrian TV and an article from Syrian press, they show beards, they are sectarian monsters. But they are Syrians and I love them. I hate them
Why Discuss says: Kill them kill them
Souri33 says: Bashar should obliterate Turkey
Souri33 says: Bashar should not do what I just posted
Souri33 says: Bashar should occupy Turkey and He should ignore Turkey.
Jad says: peaceful demonstrator do not spit on photos, here is a clip showing these criminal salafis spitting on photos
Sophia says: Thank you jad for the link
Jad: no thank you Sophia
Jad says: they just found 3197.6 kilograms of nuclear waste near Hums
Some Angry Syrian supporter of the Protestors says: Does the name Basel Assad and Firas Tlas and little Khaddam ring a bell in connection to nuclear waste scandal?
SYAU says: It had the BBC Logo. It is Salafi nuclear waste
Why Discuss says: Shoot them
Norman says: Shoot who?
Why Discuss says: Salafi demonstrators, shoot them,
Some Poor Canadian Bypasser says: Aren’t you ashamed living in democracies and supporting murder and dictatorship
Jad says: Yo canadian, are you calling me regime supporter, i resent that. I have principles. Here is a link from General Aoun TV showing more beards, they are sectarian monsters
SYAU says: skin them alive, I want to drink their blood.
Why Discuss says: Bashar is reforming, the Baath Party will change its name.
Alex says: 5 years plan, a letter every year, demonstrations should stop now
Norman says: WTF (politely).,…. Baath Baath Baath
Sophia says: Thank you jad for the link
Jad says: What link?
Sophia says: The one you are about to post.
Jad says: No thank you Sophia
MINA says: Thank you all, you openned my eyes. France is dying big time. US is losing, Bashar wins
MINA says: Here are 30 links proving my point, it doesn’t matter if I read any of them.
Norman says: ……
Mahmood says: whatever the hell he says
Souri33 says: Bashar is done
Souri33 says: Bashar will stay forever
Mina says: US is arrogant
Sophia says: US is arrogant
Akbar Palace says: Porve that us is arrogant
Jad says: shut up Akbar
Jad says: US is arrogant
Why Discuss says: US is stupid
Alex says: Here is another article by a canadian guy. It is a global conspiracy, Trust Bashar, he will reform, in two 5 year plans to start whenever he chooses.
Jad says: Yes Global Conspriacy, but the regime should not kill 800. I have priniciples
Why Discuss says: how about 700 global conspirators
Jad says: Techincally ok, the regime did not kill them, they committed suicide. It is a global conspriacy
Mina says: Yes Global CONSPIRACY.
Why Discuss says: It is a conspiracy and conspirators will die
SYAU says: It is a global Conspiracy, I want blood
Sophia says: It is a global conspiracy, this canadian professor is so cool, he has 9-11 figured, and the earthquake in Japan too. It is all CIA and Mossad, thank you alex for the link
Mina says: (Not need to summarize, basically verbatim from Sophia’s post)
Jad says: soldiers are dead, it is a civil war..
Alex says: No thank you Sophia
Norman says: ….?
Akbar Palace says: Sophia please porvide a link showing it is the Mossad.
Jad says: shut up Akbar,

New Main Post. Joshua Writes: Bashar, an Alawite (Defintion of Alawite), is winnig, or is he losing? or is winning and losing

Suggestions:
– dissolve all the security apparatus into one (they are useless, just if they had read A.Shadid pieces before the Makhlouf one – 10 sentences out of 3 hours – they would not have invited him but just anyone else;
– work at an economic union with Lebanon and Iraq, who have the same minorities and the same problems.

If you think #14 is not stupid, then I have serious doubts about your own intelligence level. That was the most stupid thing I have ever read on this blog. It is obviously coming from someone who does not know anything in history or international politics.

Hamster,
It’s the generation gap: you kids think the blog’s comments are an MSN discussion forum, while I think it is a place to add information related to the article posted or to the other comments. Since I am too lazy to make summaries, I send the links. Other people would use the information and write long posts out of it.

Next time you’re out of your hole, try not to spin yourself silly. I’m not one for drinking blood, or skinning alive, their ugly skin suits them perfectly. Although it would have been fun, I’ll resist the urge to be childish and conduct a similar summary for those huddled together in a cloudy hate bubble.

For a return to sanity, everybody should read or re-read the long speech by Bashar Al-Assad on 16 April 2011, on the occasion of the swearing-in of the new Cabinet, where Bashar sets forth the agenda of the government. The text of the speech is in English at http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2011/04/16/341923.htm

Indeed an armed Wahhabi gang of dangerous Salafi Terrorists. Look at the girls in 0:25 0:27.

Mina,

Let’s make it short for you. Reactionary comes with age (with some minor exceptions). I bet you’re over 50. It’s OK, It’s great, I hope I’ll be 50 one day. But the majority of Syrians is under 21 Y/O, and no one counts them. They should be asked, not dictated.
.

While the majority anti government here are upset that their Syrian revolution is losing grip due to the lies, media fabrications, murder and mutilation…..the list goes on, you would just be upset that the death toll in Syria is not continuing to rise as you expected.

Age wise, I expect you will be 50 years old in 38 years. I hope you’ve passed your year 6 math exam, otherwise you won’t get it.

While the majority anti government here are upset that their Syrian revolution is losing grip due to the lies, media fabrications, murder and mutilation…..the list goes on, you would just be upset that the death toll in Syria is not continuing to rise as you expected.
Age wise, I expect you will be 50 years old in 38 years. I hope you’ve passed your year 6 math exam, otherwise you won’t get it.

Khaled Meshaal, exiled Hamas leader based from Damascus, calls the Arab spring beautiful (9:00) and that freedom and democracy is needed in Syria (10:35) during his interview with France 24 in Cairo at the sidelines of the recent reconcilation ceremony with Fatah.

Another personal observation on R Makhloof (RM) interview with Mr Shadid.
Understanding the context may shed more light on the content of the message itself!
– RM set/accepted to be interviewed by Mr Shadeed without consulting with Jr.
This would signal the begining of a rift, and an attempt to apply more pressure on Jr. to stick to current hardline policies. If this were to be true, I would not be surprised if he is gradually withdrawn from the top ruling circuit.
This possibility is unlikely.

– The interview and the message were discussed beforehand with Jr.
This would go along with his claim of the joint-decision making.
As such, RM could be regarded as an unoffcial messenger with a verbal, yet official message.
It was addressed to the NYT and CC to the Washington DC.
It carried the regime’s views of the Syrian internal crisis and served a warning against intervention.

Recent article in TIME magazine suggests during an interview in Damascus that this upheaval in Syria is not sectarian as the government claims it to be.

“Hassan, a younger activist hailing from Lattakia, is unimpressed at suggestions the Alawite minority is on the regime’s side just because they are tied by religion to the ruling Assad family. “In the end, we are all Syrian. This regime is not Alawite, it’s Al-Assad’s regime, his private club and mafia. Even Alawites don’t like it”. And so he finds himself, an Alawite, fighting an uprising against an Alawite regime.”

Fears of sectarian violence is unfounded in Damascus and the west and those Syrians on the sidelines need to either talk to their fellow citizens of different denominations to get a better idea if sectarianism is truly in the cards for Syria post-Assad.

i think the only way to make the international community believe the Syrian people from inside Syria is to start to post mobile photos and videos recorded by ‘hidden camera’ as its clear that those are the only credible sources of info for the western governments

it will help to give the title of ‘activities’ to some old convects and con artists and tell the world that the Syrian people are with reform and DO NOT WANT these mighty ‘revolution’

‘the revolution’ lost any hope of attracting the majority Sunni population(and any of the minoreties) for one simple reason is Muslims in Syria are unique and the most tolerant and open minded Muslims in all the world ‘and yes even comparing to Turkey’

one can not block his ears and close his eyes from hearing and seeing how sectarian this ‘revolution’ is

the vast majority and maybe all of the Syrian people are not happy with political System but prefer it to any thing is coming from those facebook activists and Saudi Mujahideen .i said that a million of times so far and i am thinking of record it and ‘leak’ it on youtube and i am sure it will be the ‘breaking news’ of the day

can any one tell me why every time the demonstrations weaken the terror attacks increase?

i mean providing the government is doing the killing of the peaceful civilized protesters (few of them are ) why they need to shoot at a van full of poor workers coming form Lebanon in the time of calm and no demonstrations what so ever?

another question , why every time the army enter a city in less than one hour we here on the page of the Syrian revolution news about solders shooting on each other ? how come they know that fast??? or its only because they know about the armed gangs that will fire if the army entered? in all cases Daraa Homs Rastan and Banias they posted that the security forces is shooting at the Army in less than 2 hours !!

#Mawal
Less than 2 minutes after broadcasting this speech, al Jazeera had a red banner saying “opponents call from more demos”. Who were those? 3-4 UK/US Syrian “academics” and students, and a Lebanese activist?

#Louai
I completely agree with you and I think Turkey is feeding its masses with war pictures and democracy speeches to avoid more demonstrations, as they have had some in december and January. Plus Turkey plays a funny role in the Arab world by selling their wonderful soap operas depicting a society that has strictly nothing to do with the Turkish society (or this is just my feeling, could you confirm, Vlad?)

And in protest against
the belligerent attacks of the government thugs and security forces and the bombardment of civilian neighbourhoods,
the shooting of unarmed civilians,
the barbaric search of houses and indiscriminate arrests,
and the siege of neighbourhoods by checkpoints manned by armed thugs.

We announce the closure of all business stores and the cessation of all commercial activities for the day of Thursday, May 12th, 2011,
With the prospect of the strike becoming indefinite, should the authorities maintain their atrocities.

I am so proud I made you get out of your hole, because a hamster should not stay too close to gutter rats. I believe you have picked the extracts of dialogs to fit your scenario and I find myself to be the KillBill of the gang! I wonder why my sometimes boring or humoristic utterings were left aside. You do have a selective memory, it could be a sign of an illness you caught living to close to gutter rats

Thanks for Sami Moubayed article. It is sane and realistic. The situation is Lebanon is a thorn in the side of France and the US. It is not a coincidence that Ambassador Ford last week has declared that Syria should keep out of Lebanon and stop supporting the Hezbollah.
I also agree that the crisis of confidence between Erdogan and Bashar will be short lived. They have too much at stake. Yet I am not sure that Syria is benefiting of the ‘free trade’ with Turkey as much as the way around: the Syrian market is flooded with turkish items and is destroying the national industries, already obsolete.

any way thanks for the link just watch who will open tomorrow and who will not as today the gangs you support are making all effort to terrorise people for not opening their shops or go to work ..but its not working so far

Syrian security forces have released 300 people detained in the coastal city of Banias and restored basic services, a rights group said, within hours of the government saying the threat from protests was receding.

Read the Aljazera link I provided in #89 and also last paragraph of NYT

“Meanwhile, Dorothy Parvez, a reporter who works for Al Jazeera English, the Qatar-based satellite channel, left Syria aboard a Ukrainian Airways flight headed to Iran on May 2, Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Mr. Assad, said on Monday. She said Ms. Parvez had entered the country on April 29 on her Iranian passport.

Al Jazeera has reported that she was detained by Syrian authorities and, in an e-mailed statement Tuesday, it said it had nothing new to add.”

Two simple questions:
If the regime has nothing to hide, why does it not allow journalists to cover what is going on?
Why has the UN mission not been granted access to Deraa even though Assad promised access to Ban Ki Moon?

The regime had plenty of opportunities to show it is not lying. However, their actions indicate that they are.

Walid AlQash3ami is back on Youtube confirming his earlier story of defection from the Republican Guards.
He has been sentenced to death by the regime.
He says he has important information to be released at the appropriate time.

Note: No gvernment spoken has yet denied his claim to had been a soldier in teh Republican Guards!

I am surprised as how the “journalists” are working. There was a program with an interview of one of the Syrian activist who launched the Facebook page in Sweden on BBC Arabic “Nuqta Hiwar”. Of course the talk of the day was to jump on the latest news about the electoral law, and to dismiss it.
But why haven’t we seen in 7 weeks interviews of one of the more than 30,000 Christian Syrians (or ex-Syrians, they mostly came as refugees in the 80’s and until now) who live in Sweden? They have deputies in the parliament and a TV channel in Syriac (Suryoyo), so why don’t we hear about their views?

In a perfect world I much prefer a civil non violent protest and a boycott of Rami’s companies, for example. We need few weeks or months before we can tell what are the regime’s real intentions. this waiting period is for two reasons: giving the army time to restore order, and sparing the country more division and blood shed.on a negative note, it is fairly possible that any quick victory for the hardliners may actually drive the regime in the opposite direction away from reform.

Mina
Journalists are loosing their job in masses. The audience wants to see and read about dramas, gory staff, conflicts, wars or weddings. Christian syrians would be too boring.
Everyone wants to see the hidden pictures of Ben Laden dead however horrible they are… It shows you the state of insensitivity the media has brought us.

I think it’s quite funny that some supporters of the “revolution”, in order to prove to us that there are no salafists involved among the troublemakers and no sectarianism whatsoever, use statements or videos by one Christian here, one Alawi there, on Durzi on the other side, etc., as if that proves anything. This is similar to highly sectarian people claiming they are not sectarian because they have a couple friends from another sect. Look, WE are not the ones who made up many of the slogans that were chanted in the protests. The PROTESTERS made those chants. WE are not the ones who made up stories of people threatening Christians if they don’t join their reactionary “revolution.” The THUGS on the streets made these threats, which have been corroborated by various sources. So please stop trying to insult our intelligence by claiming there is no sectarianism or salafism involved in these protests.

Jad supports Syrian unity by shelling Syrians with tanks in Homs. So does Nour. You do not support the regime, but are happy with its crack down. The more you guys write, the less I understand what you want.

Journalists are the modern prostitutes. they are employees of big corporations and have to follow the shareholders’ agendas. there are exceptions , but that is the rule.

in the country where i live, more than 300 diaspora Syrians demonstrated in support of president Assad and his reforms, while 50 people, demonstrated against the ‘regime’, most of whom were not even Syrians. Guess who got reported in the local news.? the revolutionaries.

Most western journalists, when on foreign assignments, render services and follow the instructions of their countries’ secret services out of patriotism.

#118 and I think it’s equally as funny, and infinitely more disturbing that anyone in their right mind can claim the Syrian regime is not sectarian, and dominated by Alawi generals, militia, mukhabarat and republican guard troops who are trying to drag this country into a civil war, one in which minorities will pay the heaviest price, in order to protect the interests of the Assads, Makhloofs and co. Yet people like you still support this murderous regime in it’s quest to achieve that goal. Whether by malice, stupidity or a plain indifference to the suffering of your fellow citizens, you choose to side with the oppressors and tyrants who have dragged this country to rock bottom during the 40 years they terrorized it’s citizens and stole it’s resources. Believing that your interests as a member of a minority community is best served by those thugs, murderers and thieves as opposed to a free democratic system borders on the insane, and contradicts every single historic precedent.

Look it’s understandable minorities are scared. They’ve been conditioned by this regime and lied to for many years to believe that others are out to get them. You have to see through those lies. Syrians have co-existed peacefully for thousands of years before the Baath and Assads came, what makes you think it would be any different when they leave?

I don’t think it is patriotism. All the journalists I met belong to the upper middle class, and they all got their jobs through connections after working a while for free, so they are protecting class interests. These guys are losing a lot of money with the financial crisis and a journalist is alway threaten to lose his job. Add to this that the way they are hired is precisely after checking they are not too much on the left, not too interested in thirld-world countries, not too pro-Palestinian.

The “Gay Girl of Damascus” sounds more and more like a fake: now she knows the brands of tanks she is seeing! She receives fan-letters from the MB, and thinks the Syrian Salafists are very much like the AKP.

The problem is that you cannot differentiate between opposition to chaos and destruction on the one hand, and support for the regime on the other. You believe that we should support anyone who opposes the regime simply by virtue of their opposition to the regime regardless of their own background. We have a problem in our society and the Baathist regime is only part of the problem. Simply undoing the entire regime and leaving a vacuum to be filled is not a solution to the problem, especially given the various reactionary groups and social trends in our country. There is no way to move forward except through a concerted, focused campaign of education and renaissance, so that the concept of the single society and the national state is accepted by the people. Otherwise we are much more likely to descend into continuous chaos and instability, which will only make the situation worse.

Nour, WD, (#117,118)
I think that all those who are asking and promoting the Christian Syrian communities to get involved or blaming them for the uprising not doing good so far are ignoring the basic facts about minorities in Syria especially Christians:

– The core believes of the Syria Christians is to stay away from trouble and that level of sensitivity go very high when the struggle is sectarian.
– The peaceful nature of the Levant Christian churches comparing to the western churches
– The Levant Churches put it in it’s subject heads since they born that they must love everybody, they shouldn’t harm anything so they can live in peace, this is a huge reason for them not willing to be in the street exposed to all kind of harms especially when their families have in most cases one or two kids max.
– Christian Syrians don’t consider themselves minority in Syria, they don’t understand the term of majority and minority well when you talk to them about that, they consider themselves the same as any other Muslim Syrian in almost everything, and even most of the Muslim Syrians think this way, both of them adopt the Syrian conservative society, they where able for very long time now to create a mixed society that nobody feel shut out regardless what he or she believes in and I doubt that any country in the world have such rich and balanced society, segregation when exist is only physical, and it never became mental or ideological struggle between Christian and Muslim Syrians.
– The Christian Syrians are politically powerless, they don’t have any power to do any changes whatsoever, not in the government nor in the army or the economy, they all stuck to science, writing, culture and art, they are not good in facing guns, they naturally hide.
– The Christian Syrians don’t represent big numbers in populations because of massive economic reason immigration and for not having many children.

When you are aware of all these facts you immediately know that whoever blaming Christian Syrians for not joining the revolution is either a non-Syrian, non-born-Syrian or a purely sectarian voice, otherwise, they wont make a big deal about the Christian Syrians not being in thousands on the street involved in this struggle of power, but regardless of that you have some Christian youth are in the streets and it’s a betray for them for being ignored by the same people they are inviting them in, which show the sectarian nature of many elements in this uprising.

Sophia,
Indeed, I believe that the neocons have never wanted to implement democracy but to disgust people of it (as in Iraq or Afghanistan).
If the cameras have not started by miracle to be on Syria, the Yemenis would have got rid of their governement, and the Bahrain king would have had to negotiate. The BBC Arabic speaks the whole day of the tanks in Syria and makes no reference to Bahrain, of course.
The point is that in Yemen they had had an experience of democracy with very correct elections for the last 15 years or so, so to let all these people move a step forward and arrange into more representation, by cutting the tribal deals, would be a really important step. The current governement has become too corrupted because of its being a good, obedient ally of the West and the Saudis. The West can famously corrupt anyone who has a political ambition(see Africa).
There has always been a rivality in the Arab world between the “French” and the “US” system, in term of either: free education, free hospitals, versus very expensive and not for the poors, who have to get their needs through charities. Now that Europe and Sarkozy have opted for the “US way”, it is very hard for any alternative system to try to resist. It is an ideological issue, as the first way is seen as too socialist by the neocons.

“The U.S. and Its Allies Will Do Anything to Prevent Democracy in the Arab World”

It just comes back to my mind that I have heard today on BBC Arabic more than once “Syria has the biggest army of the region”. I see only prehistoric tanks and weaponry on the videos, but isn’t it obvious to everyone that Egypt and probably Turkey (and of course Israel) have much bigger armies than Syria? Who are these BBC guys trying to intoxicate?

“Syria is also targeted by imperialism — because of its heroic defense of Palestinian resistance over decades and its refusal to recognize the Zionist occupation. Syria’s assistance to Hezbollah in their struggle to end the Israeli occupation of Lebanon and their strategic alliance with Iran cannot be forgotten.”

The third largest city in Syria is being besieged by tanks and all you guys can do is quote esoteric leftist sites trying to prove a “conspiracy” against the Syrian people. Syrian tanks are shelling Syrian people in Homs. These tanks were sent by Bashar Assad, not by the US or Israel. No need for conspiracy theories to know who is killing who.

I see more and more regime loyalists on this blog and on the media parroting the official line of if Assad goes then the country will descend into chaos and civil war, despite that fact that there’s no evidence to support that, and that it was exactly the same argument that Bin Ali, Mubarak, Gaddafi and Ali Saleh used. (along with foreign infiltrators and Islamist gangs of course)

Instead, we’re supposed to shut up and praise the lord for whatever small morsels Bashar throws our way, in the hope that the best case scenario of reform transpires in Syria, which would be a superficial pseudo-democracy akin to Egypt under Mubarak.

Just as it was right to support the feudal monarchy of Haile Selassie in Ethiopia during the 1930’s against a genocidal military invasion by Italian imperialism – it is right to support the Syrian government – with all its contradictions – against a 21st century sophisticated corporate media/social network attack by U.S. imperialism and its allies in 2011.

How many times do I have to ask those accusing the protesters of sectarianism to provide proof that the protesters did shout such sectarian slogans. Every time I get the same “no Iran no HA” and some lame excuse why they “can’t find the other videos right now”.

The only place sectarian slogans are being shouted are in your sectarian head, yes, you sir are a liar just like the Syrian regime. You want to prove me wrong go ahead and provide indisputable evidence otherwise spare us the propaganda.

We’ve provided several videos of protesters chanting sectarian slogans, but it doesn’t matter what we provide because you continue to deny it no matter what. As we say in Arabic “3anzeh w law taret.” In addition, not all sectarian shouting have been recorded on video, but witnesses have heard them and reported them. Of course you choose to dismiss the testimony of witnesses that don’t support your version of events while clinging on to the claims of witnesses that support your position.

No you provided NO evidence whatsoever except for that one “no Iran, no HA” video, go ahead and prove me wrong, I’ll wait. I don’t care about the testimony of anyone unless it’s backed up by indisputable evidence, I can testify and make up a lot of stories from where I’m sitting right here, it doesn’t mean any of them are true, repeating the same lie 20000 times doesn’t turn it into a reality.

Mina, I didn’t know Allah Akbar was a sectarian slogan!. OH MY GOD, people are chanting God is great, quick bring the tanks and run those Salafi terrorists over.

Thank you for the “No Iran No HA” videos LOL, I told you to provide evidence of the other sectarian slogans, Iran and HA ARE NOT SYRIAN ENTITIES. They are FOREINGERS and they should not meddle in Syrian affairs, are people chanting No U.S.A or No Israel sectarian Islamists as well ? are they chanting against Christians and Jews ?

As for prince “عبد السلام الخليلي” the Emir of Daraa, first off, here’s the entire speech (khutba), the part you (or the regime supporter who posted the video) conveniently took out is loud and clear

second, he tried to explain what he said in another video

He’s clearly an idiot, but he’s harmless, and while what he said is stupid and insulting it’s not sectarian, not by a long shot.
Those kind of people are present in every society, they’re benign.

As I said, “3anzeh w law taret.” You failed to hear the anti-SHIA chants in the second video, you dismissed the crazy sheikh calling Druze women “whores” in the first video as unimportant, and you deny the link between anti-nasrallah slogans and anti-Shia sectarianism. What did Nasrallah do to these Syrians that they hate him so much? Other than that he is a Shia figure. That’s my point in saying it doesn’t matter what we show, as you will find some explanation to dismiss it because it suits your agenda.

Why are you going in circles ? You said protesters chanted against Christians and Alawites, they called them out by name “مسيحية” and “علوية”, you either can provide a proof to back these claims or you can not.

If you do, you were right, I was wrong, the protests are sectarian, end of story.

If you don’t, you’re using the previous videos to lay claims that you can’t back up, and spread lies to smear the demonstrations as something they are not.

wallah ya Nour if this is the kind of “evidence” and “arguments” you’re using to convince the world (and some Syrians) that there’s a salafist-sectarian-Zionist-American conspiracy against your beloved Assad and his regime then no wonder nobody believes it!

The game is up, everyone can clearly see that Assad is using tanks and troops to slaughter innocent protesters in the streets. The world won’t stand for this, his days are numbered.

Witnesses heard them chanting those slogans, and they reported it. And these slogans are in line with much of the writings and statements made by “revolutionists” online and on satellite channels. You choose not to believe those witnesses and choose to believe other witnesses, and you are entitled to do so. But I happen to know that there is indeed a salafi presence in Syria, whether we want to deny it or not, and it is definitely dangerous. I also know that many of the people who hate the Assad regime, including some on this site, do so because they see it as a “alawi” regime. These aren’t things that are figments of my imagination, but are unfortunate realities of our society. We can continue to pretend that they don’t exist, but that would only prolong them and sustain them. We should tackle these issues and find a cure for them, rather than just turn a blind eye to them in order to settle scores with the regime.

What I provided was evidence that there is a sectarian presence in the protests. And I’m not the only one who sees it; many in Syria have withdrawn from the protests because of this sectarian presence. On the other hand, what I provided was not evidence that there are armed groups conspiring against the country. That evidence comes from the fact that soldiers and security officers are being killed. The idea that they are killing each other is complete nonsense. The game that is up is the one being played by the “Revolutionists” who have completely lost their momentum and their credibility, as they are being exposed more and more for the fraud that they are.

I feel sorry for you Nour I really do, you prefer fear and ignorance to the truth. You’d much rather live in a delusional world Where Bashar is the gatekeeper to your prison of denial and wishful thinking.

Well I have news for you, we don’t hate Bashar because he’s Alawi (his wife is Sunni did you forget?). We hate him because he switched from being Dr.Bashar to Dr. Butcher, with the blood of 1000 Syrians on his hands.

Syria was here thousands of years before the Assads, and will be here thousands of years after they’re gone. It’s very stupid and degrading to equate love of country and patriotism with the idolization of the murderers and thugs of the Assad clan. Sects have co-existed together peacefully on this land for generations, even during the heights of the Ottoman caliphate (the kind of Salafist state you so fear?), and through various invasions, wars and hard times, and we will continue to live together as one people.

Wow man, seriously, what I wrote in my last comment is not that hard to understand, you either have proof of you don’t, it’s not rocket science.

Unless you show a video where protesters chant the exact extremely sectarian slogans you and others insist the protesters chanted in more than a DOZEN places all over Syria, your last comment makes as much sense as this one.

Witnesses saw UFOs, they have been abducted by aliens and they reported these incidents, their reports are inline with much of the writings and statements made by “Scientists” online and on TV channels. You choose not to believe those witnesses and choose to believe other witnesses, and you are entitled to do so. But I happen to know that there is indeed aliens on Earth, whether we want to deny it or not, and it is definitely dangerous. These aren’t things that are figments of my imagination, but are unfortunate realities of our society.

I have stopped arguing with NK ad Edward about the violence of the ‘peaceful demonstrators’. They have amazing resources of denial and they are as sure of themselves and condescending as this computer nerd who sees himself as the savior of Syria and Islam through technology. Why waste your time?

If you can’t come to grips with the fact that those videos are clear examples of sectarianism, then you live in a world of complete denial. Syrians attacking Iran and Hizballah are doing so from a sectarian basis, so please stop trying to rationalize it. In addition, you completely discarded the deeply sectarian statements by that kooky sheikh in Deraa. This means that you will just deny anything you see if it doesn’t fit nicely in your own world view. Moreover, other figures and so-called “revolutionaries” that are outside Syria have also engaged in disgustingly sectarian agitation with no condemnation coming from other opposition groups, which makes me question the credibility of those groups.

Edward:

You don’t need to feel sorry for me, I’m doing quite fine. You should feel concerned about your country and its fate. To think that a toppling of this regime is going to magically bring about an advanced democratic system with modern state institutions is total insanity. Most of the groups opposing the Baath are just as reactionary as the Baath if not more so, especially those Islamic groups such as the MB. So what you are calling for is chaos and destruction in order to bring about any group, regardless of how reactionary, as long as it is not this regime. This is a recipe for disaster and is not a way to build a real state. As soon as you come to realize that mere hatred for the regime is not a proper basis on which to build a national position, you will start to understand my position much more clearly.

Telegraph.co.uk is one of the biggest-circulating daily newspapers in the U.K. Here is its news report about Syria today 11 May. The reporter is based in Jerusalem.

Syrian tanks shelled residential areas in the city of Homs on Wednesday, targeting civilians at random in a significant escalation of violence to crush the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad…. In Homs military units launched a sustained artillery assault on three suburbs as citizens slept in the early hours of the morning…. Soldiers directed heavy bursts of machine-gun fire at residential houses…. One Homs resident said: “No one dares to go outside, so we don’t really know what is happening out there.” … For days, government troops and loyalist snipers have picked off protesters that have dared to gather on the streets of Homs…. [Complete article here @ Telegraph.co.uk]

According to that report you’ve just now read, the Syrian government is psychotic. You and I know that it is the reporter and his editor who are psychotic.

Nour dear, freedom comes at a price, you don’t sit comfortably on your sofa watching t.v and have it handed to you on a plate. A country that has gone through decades of systematic destruction of it’s infrastructure, education, judiciary, police, military and civil service will not magically transform itself in to a modern prosperous state overnight. There will be a period of chaos, instability and hardship but eventually the country will come through better and stronger for it. You can see striking examples of places gripped by worse situations than Syria and what they’ve become now. Need I remind you of Germany, Italy and Spain in Europe? or perhaps Japan? Maybe the Latin American countries who suffered under horrendous dictatorships in the 70’s and 80’s? How about Malaysia or Turkey? Eastern Europe then? They’ve all become much much better, some more than others, and none are perfect I’ll agree. so it’s a stark choice, either accept the status quo and continue to live in a semi-functioning Stalin era repressive state, or make the hard sacrifices needed to ensure a better future for this country and our children. Guess what, over 1000 Syrians made that choice already, and made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.

You stopped arguing because you basically have nothing to say when you’re confronted with logic.

You, Nour and others keep saying people were chanting “علوية بالتابوت و مسيحية عبيروت” also “بدنا نحكي عالمكشوف علوية ما بدنا نشوف” among a few more sectarian slogans. You’re both freakin’ Lebanese, aren’t you ? so you didn’t hear these slogans with your own ears, but you insist they were chanted because a “witness” said so, well a few “witnesses” said Iraq had WMDs, we all know how that turned out!.

Everything a “witness” says is a lie until PROVEN otherwise, that goes for both sides, now can you prove the above slogans were shouted ?. Go ahead, post the video and then we’ll discuss my inability to believe what I’m hearing.

“or perhaps Japan?”
You are funny, you are using the same promise they give to naive Iraqis, do you know how many articles are out there comparing the future of Iraq to Japan before the war of 2003?
Here is one article that we all know the result of today, the lovely Daniel pipes agree with the other lovely Ajami and probably you, 8 years ago, that the future is so bright, did you 3 learn anything, apparently NOT.

You are right , I have nothing to say, not because I am impressed by your \”logic\”, but because we have diametrally opposite views of how a country can move forward, you by relentless and violent confrontations, I by a firm self-defense and a reasonable proposition to move to a dialog table. After the storm, we\’ll see you whose vision was correct

“The army shot at us for 2 hours after they claimed the driver did not stop”

Can’t you see the stupidity in that remark? I’m sure if the army shot at a van for 2 hours, there wouldn’t be much of the van left, let alone any survivors. The ‘witness’ speaking, doesn’t seem to be harmed at all, was he in the van or around the area at the time, or sitting in “Abu Mohamad’s” lounge room while he is giving an eye witness account to Al Jazeera? Ugarit news is a joke.

Yes Jad, everything a witness says is a lie until proven otherwise, no exceptions.

Why-Discuss

Did you hear about my views from a witness as well ? I dare you to show me one comment of me promoting violence, actually you’ll see many where I oppose and condemn any violence. But wait a minute why are we talking about my views, or yours ?.

Oh well, if there was a video showing protesters chanting such slogans one of you would have posted it by now. Not that this lack of evidence will change anything “لا سمح الله”. Tomorrow one of you will repeat the same allegations and present them as facts, I’ll ask him for proof, and we will have this same exact conversation again.

Mina writes: The “Gay Girl of Damascus” sounds more and more like a fake: now she knows the brands of tanks she is seeing! She receives fan-letters from the MB, and thinks the Syrian Salafists are very much like the AKP.

Mina, do you have a link or other information to back up what you assert? I don’t understand what you mean by ‘fake.’ Fake what?

I don’t know my Syrian history as you do perhaps, Mina, but what do you find in her report that is false? It seems to me to be a very well-balanced non-western, non-regime historical recounting designed to chastize, correct and repudiate simplistic Western views of the events. Did you find it to be something else? Did you read it?

I really don’t understand how you, with no real name, no location, no details of your age, affiliation or interests can judge such a person as Amina A. so harshly — and call her fake. What are your interests? — Amina has declared hers . . .

(I don’t really expect Mina to answer me fully — but here below is Amina’s blog mention of ‘tanks’ to compare against Mina’s characterization — from the same link as above:)

Now, I’m not stupid. And I know a little bit about how to identify objects. So, what I saw was a slow moving column: a couple of tanks – Soviet built, I think T-72’s? – followed by armored personnel carriers, then more tanks. They were spaced out, which was weird – well, I guess in case they came under attack …

While the ‘gay girl in Damascus’ had some facts about the Hama incident correct, she forgot to mention the sparks of insurgency and destruction of infrastructure. She mentioned mainly prominent Alawi military personnel being murdered but she forgot to mention the slaughter of 83 young Alawi cadets. She mentioned that women in Hijab’s targeted by military in a reaction to the atrocities of the Muslim Brotherhood – which I don’t recall happened…..Many prominent military personnel were also of the Sunni religion, I’m sure they would feel as though there mother was being abused. She forgot to mention the scores of Alawi women and young girls targeted, raped and abused by members of the Muslim brotherhood, or the Alawi men who were murdered and mutilated, dismembered and sent back to their families in plastic bags.

The people affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Syrian revolution, are condoning these same acts now. Their Imams are condoning it and advising their followers to murder the officers and take their women and children as prizes, and advising them that it is halal to do so. Others are in their Khitab’s advising their followers that women who do not wear the Hijab are whores, and the rape of Alawi woman is halal. The murder of Syrian army officers is halal as they are “Israeli soldiers”. Many Alawites have been murdered and their corpses mutilated then left for the authorities to find them while having cut off their genitals and stuffing it into their mouths. One civilian was slashed and stabbed many times while having to endure a parade walk by these evil gangs, until he finally collapsed and was then slaughtered like a lamb, then as the others, was left mutilated. They were so proud of their act, they videotaped it.
This is happening now. The Syrian government is right to fight to regain the serenity that was once in Syria.

The Muslim Brotherhood has always been and will always be evil. There is no place for them in Syria, so the sooner they and their gang members are apprehended, the better.

Reforms are for the better of the country, but the ugly path of sectarianism, fake videos, fabricated media reports and so on, is not the way to go about a revoltion. The Syrian government needs to put a stop to the destabalisation, then reforms can be implemented positively.

William
You should read it more often
She is on the move and hiding since one week.
I say it starts to seem fake because what started as posts which sounded like written by a teenager on her exhibitionist need to have an open gay life, in a place like Syria, are now fulfiled with historical info and this note on the type of tanks (but for the Hama massacre, the one on the Huffington Posthttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-josef-olmert/syriathe-collapse-started_b_859809.html
at least gives the number of the Alawi cadets massacred before the confrontation between the MB and the Hafed al Assad troops start).
As for the mentions she makes on how cool are the MB here they arehttp://damascusgaygirl.blogspot.com/2011/05/observation-and-insight.html
I quote
“The only things I’ve gotten are some nice notes from observant but gay muslims and a long, really sweet email from a relative who’s in the exiled Muslim Brotherhood (“I’m really enjoying your blog. Keep up the good work, we’re all praying for your safety.”)
Second, the “Islamist” element in the opposition here is more like the Turkish AKP than the Taliban and quite possibly rather more modern than the AKP.”

How can you call for more violence in the Middle East while it is okay for the West to kill people from unmaned drones, anonymous who never get mentioned in the news?
Do you know that al Jazeer’a wordl has about 20 countries all together? I have never seen them say anything about Asian countries, Africa…http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/11/us-congo-rape-idUSTRE74A79Y20110511
Can you understand what is the mind of the young muslims agitating these protests while they don’t even know who are pulling the thread behind them? Don’t you think that Netanyahu needs a major catastrophe to avoid coming with an idea of what to do with his ever increasing racist and extremist settlers?
Why do you want to know who talk? Can’t you judge someone from the rationality of the arguments?
When you see the effort put now on the ground by intelligent, experienced people with a life of union fights and CONSTRUCTIVE opposition, in Tunisia and Egypt, do you think I am not sad to see that the Libya’s adventure was built up to keep a hand on a possible destabilizing factor? Same and worse for Syria. I wouldn’t be suprised if a sudden student uprising in Iran was not automatically followed by a concerted attack. Although I have no sympathy for the Iranian regime, neither do I have any sympathy for the Saudis and the Gulf model of enslaved workers denied any rights.

Dear Syau, I can feel, from five thousand miles away, your fear and your anger and your hurt at the murders of brother by brother. I understand the feeling of being powerless before a future that is not in your hands — the fear of a terrible bloody future. So, thank you for your response — it was heartfelt, I am sure. I respect your emotion as being true and born of your understanding that only utter terror and horror can result from the passing of the Assad clan.

But you did not address my questions about Amina A. Mina said confidently that Amina A sounds like a fake. I wanted someone to tell me why Amina is not a sister Syrian, citing Amina’s own words. Why does Amina A., a gay girl in Damascus, deserve such contempt?

If anyone can give me rational and thoughtful reasons to dismiss Amina as a ‘fake,’ if anyone can give me an actual quote where Amina says something that resembles Mina’s retelling above, I will gladly revise my opinion that Amina provides valuable commentary. If someone can show me and other readers the mistakes in her historical rendering of events in Hama, I can understand a little bit more of this dreadful state where one Syrian sister (I assume Mina is Syrian) attacks another.

Mina, thank you for the response. I only have time at the moment to note the things that continue to puzzle me from your Amina A quote above — I will respond to the rest of your questions at a later time, if you please.

(except . . . can you please tell us who you are addressing when you write How can you call for more violence in the Middle East while it is okay for the West to kill people from unmaned drones, anonymous who never get mentioned in the news?)

— you wrote She receives fan-letters from the MB, and thinks the Syrian Salafists are very much like the AKP.

Here is where I think you are unfair in your summary. I will not summarize as you have done, but will post the passage:

So, when I started this blog, I assumed that I had two groups to worry about:
Syrian government authorities and Islamic extremists.

Well, the first has made it abundantly clear that they are most displeased with me in person. I’ve even seen a few comments posted on this blog that I am 99.9% certain originate with regime loyalists (and a few emailed threats as well … which leave me shrugging: ‘uh guys – just because you like Bashar a lot … you do nothing this way …)

I’ve also seen the usual anti-Islamic and the usual pro- and anti-Israel comments posted …

BUT the one thing I haven’t seen, the one group from which no one has made threats or sent deranged emails nor sought to harass anyone is the ‘Islamic extremists’,

The only things I’ve gotten are some nice notes from observant but gay muslims and a long, really sweet email from a relative who’s in the exiled Muslim Brotherhood (“I’m really enjoying your blog. Keep up the good work, we’re all praying for your safety.”)

Amina’s context is ‘people she had to worry about’ in terms of harassing and ugly emails. It looks like she fully expected harsh and ugly comments from Islamists. Her point was that the only thing she had received from that ‘side’ were notes from gay Muslims and a long, sweet email from her relative, who she tells us was in exile (I think it is safe to say that her relative is from the wing of the MB that turned away from violence as with the MB in Egypt and Ghannouchi’s Enadha in Tunisia).

Here’s what you wrote: Amina thinks the Syrian Salafists are very much like the AKP

Here is what she wrote: Second, the “Islamist” element in the opposition here is more like the Turkish AKP than the Taliban and quite possibly rather more modern than the AKP.

Mina, she did not say Salafist. She did not say Syrian Salafists are very much like the AKP. She took two poles, AKP and Taliban, and told her readers that she thinks the opposition she knows was more like one pole than the other.

You have much support and encouragement for your views and perspectives here, Mina. You have a voice and an influence — but using unfair summaries of other people’s words undercuts your ability to be an honest, evenhanded reporter respected by all sides.

William,
here are the three extracts i read through a week on her blog and that led me to feel there is something fishy:
I have travel plans for later on in the year: in June, I plan to be in Italy, in August in the USA and Canada, in September in the UK … before all this started I got accepted into grad school in the UK …
11th May

And I start laughing. My girlfriend has just stumbled on to the first rule of conversation in a dictatorship; never speak directly.

We had been dating for six glorious months and I had a vacation coming up from work; Anna is self-employed (she’s an artist) so she can vacation whenever she wants. And since we’d met I had been talking ceaselessly about how beautiful Syria is, how Damascus is the greatest city on earth and how I longed to see her. So, we’d decided to go together …
9th May

I opened my email just now … and what do I find waiting for me?
A message from my ex-husband … it’s been nearly ten years since we last spoke and nearly as long that we had any direct contact (though I have visited his mother on numerous occasions; we always got along famously … and she has always said she likes me better than him …)
8th May

I add, about my personal feeling about Amina, which sounds to me like “but why is Syria not like the US” (with the same… hum… ‘culture’?) that if all the rich in Syria were paying taxes, the country could do perfectly well. You would be surprised on how little taxes pay most people in the Arab world. No governement want to face it!!

And information from Homs said, the Emir of Homs had been arrested while trying to escape on his plane (helicopter), which could not take off and where it was discovered that his followers replaced the fan with an air condition.

I will correct you in what you think my “understanding that only utter terror and horror can come from the passing of the Assad Clan”, I do not think that at all. I think Bashar has done wonders for Syria; it’s a beautiful country and has prospered under his governing. I think there is a conspiracy against his government. If there wasn’t, there would be no need to continue on with the call for uprisings after he put forward reforms. A large amount of illegal weapons and home made bombs were discovered. Terrorists captured, admitting to the conspiracy. One terrorist cell to another, all admitting roughly the same thing. I think utter terror and horror can only come from a revolution based on lies and fabrication, sanctioning violence, murder and rape according to sects.

I think Mina’s description of Amina is justified. In some of Amina’s comments, she writes about naming Alawites as Zionists and Germans to her friends and relatives while in a restaurant in order not to be understood by the security forces? That is a childish racist remark and not one of sound mind. She claims to be a Sunni, a gay Sunni with her father’s full support who has studied the Quaran, about 90 verses in all she stated. Although homosexuality is accepted by many, it is denounced in the Quaran and is not accepted in Islam. In one of her blogs, she recounts a time when 2 “Alawite shabiha” came in the middle of the night to arrest her and were scared off by her father. That is another comment I find hard to believe. If they were actually sent to arrest her, she would be detained by now regardless if her father won a war of words with them or not. Read more of her comments and you will see inconsistencies in some of her stories.

And you are right, I am frustrated at the violence and murder and outright lies that is a result of this farce of a revolution. I am frustrated at the loss of lives, frustrated that the hardcore anti regime here seem to be linking an endless stream of fake video’s and only seem to bestow the Fatiha upon those who they feel died at the hands of the army. Not once did Revlon want solace and patience for families or the fatiha to be bestowed upon the lives to those murdered by the ‘revolutionists’. That is not respect for human life, it is racism.

What I think is if these people actually wanted reform, they would call an end to the uprisings and actually allow Syria to grow and prosper. If people behind this revolution actually cared for the wellbeing of the Syrian people, they would not have timed these uprisings at peak tourism season. They would not want Western interference or invasion of Syria and have a situation like Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan just to implement their agenda. This revolution is fake, any rational person can see that clearly.

“One administration official said that some national security officials were hoping that even if Mr. Assad stayed in power, he would move away from the alliance with Iran because so many of the Sunni protesters wanted to see an end to that alliance. “There are some who think that because of that, Assad would have to back away,” the official said.

But he said the administration remained divided about whether Mr. Assad would actually make a break from Iran. “

A new headache for the US administration and a possible boost to
Bashar’s because of his long support to the Resistance. Are we going to see a pro-palestinian demonstrations in Syria on 15may?

Also note the bias of Facebook submitting to Israel’s pressure!

Egyptian activists plan ‘Third Intifada’
Now that they are free to demonstrate, Egyptians plan a ‘million-man’ march to support the Palestinians on May 15

Following the February ousting of Egypt’s longstanding president Hosni Mubarak, calls have been circulating in Egypt and throughout the region for a ‘Third Intifada’ to begin May 15.

“Unlike the first two Palestinian uprisings, the proposed Third Intifada is meant to involve the entire Arab world,” said Egyptian journalist and political analyst Abdelhalim Kandil.

It began with the appearance of a Facebook page in early March calling for a ‘Third Intifada’ against the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. The page, reportedly founded by Arab pro-Palestinian groups, set the launch date for May 15 – the day on which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes in 1948 to make way for the nascent state of Israel.

The page attracted some 230,000 members within two weeks, prompting Israeli officials to lodge a complaint with the popular California-based social-networking website. On March 29, Facebook removed the page – which had at that point surpassed the 500,000-member mark – claiming that its contents were found to “promote violence”.

The page was almost immediately replaced with several copycat pages, however, which reiterated calls for “the liberation of Palestine from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River” and “the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes in historical Palestine” in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 194 of 1948.

An Arabic-language website called the ‘Third Palestinian Intifada’ appeared soon afterward, providing a general plan of action. The site calls for peaceful protests on Friday and Saturday (May 13 and 14) at Israeli embassies and consulates worldwide, including those in western capitals, “to express our rage about the ongoing occupation of Palestine and the expulsion of millions of Palestinians from their rightful homes.”

‘Million-man’ march

On May 15, dubbed the “Sunday of Liberation”, the site had initially called for multiple million-man marches to advance on “historical Palestine” – in reference to Israel – from starting points in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. This was later scaled down, however, to the staging of demonstrations outside Israeli embassies in Jordan and Egypt (the two Arab states that have diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv), along with simultaneous marches near Israel’s borders in Syria, Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories.

According to Mounib Mohamed, 26-year-old activist from Cairo and administrator for the website’s Egypt branch, the initial plan was scrapped “because of the difficulties associated with implementing it, and in order to avoid friction with local authorities in the countries involved.”

“As for Egypt, we’re calling for million-man gatherings to be held in cities countrywide on May 13,” Mohamed explained. “Participants will then head to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where prominent political figures are scheduled to speak about the Palestinian cause.”

“From Tahrir, we will march to the Zionist embassy, UN offices, and certain multinational store chains known to have Zionist sympathies,” said Mohamed, who is also the administrator of the Facebook page ‘Egyptians for the Intifada’.

He went on to stress that all planned activities would be “peaceful in nature” and “carried out in coordination with Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF)”, which has run the country’s affairs since Mubarak’s ousting.

“Our ultimate objective is the liberation of Palestine via peaceful, political means in light of Egypt’s post-Mubarak political circumstances,” Mohamed added.

Egyptian youth cooperation

Several prominent revolutionary youth groups also plan to take part, including the 6 April youth movement, which played a leading role in Egypt’s January 25 Revolution.

“The Palestinian situation is a source of pain for the entire Arab nation across the political spectrum,” 6 April media spokesperson Injie Hamdi said. “Therefore, in coordination with other like-minded youth groups, we’re endorsing calls to demonstrate from May 13 to 15 in Tahrir Square and at the Israeli embassy.”

In the three months since Mubarak’s departure, Egypt has witnessed a spate of marches and protests in front of both Israel’s embassy in Cairo and its consulate in Alexandria, where demonstrators could be seen distributing flyers about the planned event.

The ‘Third Intifada’ had initially included plans for a protest march to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, which has been sealed for the most part since 2007. This plan was abandoned, however, following a promise by Egypt’s SCAF-appointed foreign minister late last month that the crossing would soon be reopened on a permanent basis.

Nevertheless, the Arab Doctors Union plans to dispatch a convoy of Gaza-bound humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing – scheduled to set out from Tahrir Square on May 15. The closure of Rafah, in tandem with Israel’s five-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip, has effectively cut the coastal enclave off from the rest of the world – subjecting its roughly 1.8 million inhabitants to excessive poverty and privation.

Notably, Palestinian faction Hamas, which governs the strip and espouses a policy of armed resistance to Israel, has not publicly endorsed calls for a ‘Third Intifada’. Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, who heads rival Palestinian faction Fatah and supports a discredited ‘peace process’ with Israel, has voiced downright opposition to the idea.

Last week, the two factions agreed in Cairo to form a national unity government, ending four years of bitter animosity. Just how the new Palestinian government plans to deal with Israel – whether by resistance or by negotiations – remains uncertain, however.

According to Kandil, the greatest benefit of Hamas-Fatah reconciliation is that the two factions “will now be able to coordinate the kind of peaceful revolutions seen recently in the Arab world”. He expressed hope that the planned ‘Third Intifada’ would apply the lessons learned from successful Arab uprisings, especially those seen in Tunisia and Egypt.

“If the Palestinians stage peaceful protests en masse and persevere despite Israel’s inevitably violent response – and are supported by simultaneous demonstrations in Arab and western capitals – the Israeli occupation’s days may very well be numbered,” said Kandil.

The first Palestinian Intifada lasted from 1987 until the signing of the 1993 Oslo peace accords. A second, more violent Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 and ended with Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

SYAU writes on the subject of Amina A., ‘A Gay Girl in Damascus’: I think Mina’s description of Amina is justified. In some of Amina’s comments, she writes about naming Alawites as Zionists and Germans to her friends and relatives while in a restaurant in order not to be understood by the security forces? That is a childish racist remark and not one of sound mind.

First, thank you for your honest responses. I hope you understand that I will have gaps in my knowledge of events, huge gaps, huge gaps in comprehension. I appreciate you taking the time to amplify your earlier comments.

Second, I checked Amina A’s blog entries to compare what summary impressions with Amina’s own words — and this leads to more puzzlement, frankly.

For example, you write that the Gay Girl herself named “Alawites as Zionists and Germans to her friends and relatives while in a restaurant in order not to be understood by the security forces.”

And that’s how life was not so long ago. Now, a just a few years later, it’s different. People are no longer using euphemisms … and indirection. At least less than ever before. No more significant silences or things left to infer.

(I hope other readers will check out the entire blog posting — it does not correspond to Syau’s representation)

In one of her blogs, she recounts a time when 2 “Alawite shabiha” came in the middle of the night to arrest her and were scared off by her father. That is another comment I find hard to believe.

“The Salafi plot,” the other one says, his accent marks him as straight from a village in the Jebel Ansariya. “Making sectarian plots.”

“Stupid city-fuckers,” says the same guy. “All you rich pansies are the same. No wonder she ends up fucking girls and kikes” (again, the Arabic is much rawer ,,,)

He steps twoards me and puts his hand on my breast.

“So you come here to take Amina. Let me tell you something though. She is not the one you should fear; you should be heaping praises on her and on people like her. They are the ones saying alawi, sunni, arabi, kurdi, duruzi, christian, everyone is the same and will be equal in the new Syria; they are the ones who, if the revolution comes, will be saving Your mother and your sisters. They are the ones fighting the wahhabi most seriously. You idiots are, though, serving them by saying ‘every sunni is salafi, every protester is salafi, every one of them is an enemy’ because when you do that you make it so.

“Your Bashar and your Maher, they will not live forever, they will not rule forever, and you both know that. So, if you want good things for yourselves in the future, you will leave and you will not take Amina with you. You will go back and you will tell the rest of yours that the people like her are the best friends the Alawi could ever have and you will not come for her again.

and in the night we celebrated this little victory; they may come back but maybe not …

he made a few calls in the middle of the night; woke up some people (and found some not sleeping) who are in teh regime and told them about the goons’ visit. They may have consequences fall on them (which is why I do not give their names) and probably won’t be sent out again … if they haven’t quit.

Maybe they will tell others; leave the ‘liberals’ alone … maybe not. Only time will tell.

(I can understand how Syau might misinterpret the story told by Amina, but I must stress that his quote — “Alawite shabiha” — did not appear in the story)

Syau, you wrote: She claims to be a Sunni, a gay Sunni with her father’s full support who has studied the Quaran, about 90 verses in all she stated. Although homosexuality is accepted by many, it is denounced in the Quaran and is not accepted in Islam.

Your remarks suggest to me (please correct me if I am wrong in reading the implication) that Amina cannot possibly have been accepted by her father and her family as a gay woman — that she is lying when she says has not received ugly and harassing comments from the ‘side’ you oppose.

Moreover, when you write that she claims to have studied about 90 verses of the Quran — this is not accurate. In fact, she claims to have memorized 90 verses of the Quran:

[I]’m good with languages; it’s, I’m told, part of growing up bilingual. Arabic, then English, then Arabic, then English, all of my life. Some things I do better in one than in the other; my Arabic composition style always bothers me as stilted and my Arabic language poetry is awful … (not that my English is great but at least I’m not completely embarassed) and I have a pretty good memory (not to brag; I think a life of sobriety helps … as well as all the time I spent memorizing Quran (I’m not a hafidh, but I would say that, by page count, I know half the Quran by heart (like everyone else, I started with the short surahs so I would say I know close to 90 complete))

Anyway … I had Arabic and English from childhood, learned French well enough to read in public school, a solid background in Latin and I picked up Spanish fairly fast … I like learning languages so I took Turkish classes, again well enough to get by … and I also studied enough Hebrew to read and sort of speak (once you learn the alphabet, it’s easy enough though Maltese is even easier)

Why Hebrew? Well, I had a crazy idea that it might be useful … and I might some day be a diplomat with need for Turkish and Hebrew …. Maybe even one day working in our embassy in Tel Aviv … or, thinking wildly, being part of the team that restores the Jaulan through negotiations

— Syau, if you wish to be convincing and reliable as a reporter, you perhaps should take more care in accurately summarizing other people’s words.

I asked you this: “can you please tell us who you are addressing when you write How can you call for more violence in the Middle East while it is okay for the West to kill people from unmaned drones, anonymous who never get mentioned in the news?

I hope you will amplify your remarks: did you mean to imply that I call for more violence? I very much hope you will tell me that you did NOT address these remarks to me, although your entire post seemed addressed to me . . .

I too have some doubts about the Gay Girl in Damascus candor. Her writing reminds of a famous book “Girls of Ryad”, written by a Saudi girl about the Saudi women’s private lives under the oppressive Saudi regime. It’s witty, funny and interesting. It was a library success.
I have a strong impression that the Gay Girl is seeking a publisher to publish her recount of Syria’s young generation in Damascus during the ruling of the Baath party. Her blog is often mentioned in ‘intellectual’ french and US newspapers. I wonder how truthful she is in recounting the events. She obviously aims at pleasing a western audience taking advantage of the western known sympathy for sexual minorities, for woman’s empowerment in the Moslem world and finally for anyone who contributes to the main stream demonization of a Syrian regime.
Her main drawback, though, is that, contrary to the ‘Girls of Ryad’, the Damascus gay girl is very self conscious and talks mostly about herself.
In any case, the descriptions are well dramatized and she makes vivid dialogs. I won’t be surprised if the book becomes a bestseller, once published.
It has the right ingredients….